Recent events

July 6, 2010

So it's been a while again, eventually I'm going to have to stop saying that... Things have been going really well here, with my life and with my work. I have Guatemalan friends who I enjoy hanging out with, and this may blow your mind, but one of them invited me to a LAN party (google it if you're confused) at his house to play counter strike... It hasn't happened yet, but I'm excited about the prospect. Work has been going great. We updated our presentation that we do to explain to the teachers about our project, and today we gave it to our biggest school (over 1000 kids!) and it was really fun. We taught them a few songs and made them dance and generally had a goofy and fun time. They participated a lot more than I was expecting, so it went over really well with them. I'm starting to feel like the teachers and directors know who I am, and that they are comfortable with me, which is a wonderful feeling. Of course we hadn't had school for two weeks, so this might be just a false high after two really successful day back, but still, I'm very optimistic.

I haven't mentioned this before, but sometimes I strike up conversations with random people on the street, and it usually turns out to be a really positive thing. Old men especially, because they like to sit for hours on the corners chatting with each other. I just walk over and introduce myself and we talk about life and my project and their perceptions of Americans and my perceptions of Guatemala and it's all great. I don't know if other volunteers do this or not, but they really should. It's a lot harder for the girls, I know, because they really can't approach random men on the street without breaking some social norms, but even chatting with the market women or women working in stores has been good for me. Everyone is curious who the giant gringo is, so they generally enjoy finding out...

Last week we had a few days of activities leading up to the 4th of July party, and they were really fun. We had a basketball tournament that you guys who haven't seen me play basketball might think I would have been helpful in, but I really wasn't. I watched all the World Cup games at the office in a lounge with a bunch of other volunteers, which is much more fun than watching them by myself, and all the games were fantastic and dramatic. On Saturday there were some soccer games, and I discovered that I should never be asked to play midfield, because that requires an awful lot more running than my body prefers to do. In the afternoon we had a BBQ with almost all the Guatemalan volunteers (there were probably over 150 of us there, we have over 200 in country), and in the evening we hung out in Antigua. I'm not sure why we celebrated the 4th of July on the 3rd, but my guess is because it was a Saturday, which is more convenient.

My birthday is coming up this weekend, and so far I have very little control over what is happening. My closest Guatemalan friend has the same birthday as I do, so he invited me to lunch with his family. Then my host family told me they are going to make dinner for me, so I guess I just have the morning free... I am in charge of making my own cake, because most Guatemalans don't know how to bake, so they were planning on buying me a cake, but store-bought cakes here are not great, so I'm going to use some of the brown sugar that I have received from the states to make my favorite cake, Irish Potato Cake with caramel frosting.

Thanks to everyone for reading, and for caring enough to follow what's going on with me. I have found that I really value the wonderful connections I have made over the course of my life, and I think about you all often. Thank you for being part of my life.